CNERC-Rail research team, led by Prof. Yi-Qing Ni, Chair Professor of Smart Structures and Rail Transit of CEE and Director of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Centre (Hong Kong Branch) (CNERC-Rail), and composed of Dr Vincent Wai Kei Ao, Dr Yao Hu, Mr Jiahao Lu, and Mr Yuhang Lu won the Excellence Award at the 2nd International Innovation Competition on Structural Health Monitoring for Railway Systems. This recognition attests the high capability and significant achievements of CNERC-Rail in developing advanced structural health monitoring technologies for modern railway systems.
The competition, held on 17 November, 2025, was guided by the China Railway Society and CRRC Co., Ltd., and jointly organised by CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd. and Central South University. It attracted global innovation personnel to present advance research and application in data mining, damage diagnosis, and life-prediction technologies for rail transit structural health monitoring. The event emphasised the development of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)-oriented digital solutions as its core concept. During the competition, the team developed a neural network approach utilising an ensemble model that integrated a one-dimensional Convolutional Neural Network, Attention mechanism, and Voting strategy (ECAV), enabling accurate prediction of impact locations and energy levels.
The achievements made in this project provide robust technical support for developing lightweight design and intelligent, safety-focused whole life cycle management of rail facilities. We look forward to their future contributions to the field and the positive impact of their research on structural health monitoring for railway systems.
